Ramit Sethi is a New York Times best-selling author and creator of one of our favorite personal finance sites, I Will Teach You to Be Rich. In his weekly video Q&A, Ramit answers common questions about personal finance, careers, and more. This week: What's the best approach for paying down debt while also investing your money?

Chris from San Francisco asks: "I'm 30, my student debt amount is just below the amount of my annual salary (5.375% interest). Should I be trying to eliminate this debt at all costs or continuing to save for retirement, emergency, living life and pay off debt equally?"

There are three potential answers to this question:

The mathematical answer is to put your money where it will have the biggest impact. If your debt interest rate is lower than what interest rate you can expect from investing, pay the minimum on the debt each month and invest the rate.

The emotional answer is that for many people, they hate having debt of any kind, so even if they're paying off low-interest debt, it still makes sense for them.

The hybrid approach is to split the difference: Pay off some of the debt and invest some. A nice compromise.

Many people scoff at the emotional or hybrid solutions, not understanding that personal finance is about more than simple math. But it's clear that psychology and emotions play a huge role in money. If they didn't, we'd all spend less than we earned and construct a perfect asset allocation.

If you feel strongly about the mathematical or emotional answer, your answer is clear. For everyone else—which turns out to be most of my readers—I suggest a hybrid approach.

One more thing: Surprisingly, the most important step isn't finding the optimal balance between paying off debt and investing. It's automating your money so you don't have to think about either. Six months from now, you'll be shocked at how much you've paid off and invested.

Ramit Sethi, author of I Will Teach You To Be Rich and the same-named blog, answered a few…
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Ramit Sethi is a New York Times best-selling author who writes about personal finance, psychology, and careers. Learn the word-for-word scripts to negotiate your salary, lower your cable fees, and earn more money at http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/.